One of my duties at work is to load and unload the company van with materials needed for events and broadcasts. A couple of months ago, the building I work in mandated that anyone loading items into a van or truck must do so by way of the loading dock instead of using the main garage. In order to access the loading dock you must use a special elevator that is hidden away from the main ones.

In this elevator there is a giant red sign with engraved white font reading “No Smoking.” In the main elevator there is a fancy video screen offering the news and weather of the day. When I was using the loading dock elevator the other day I had a thought arise. If I was a smoker, would my first instinct be to light up a cigarette the second I entered a small and confined space. At the same time, would I be able to smoke an entire cigarette fast enough before getting off at the tenth floor?

It’s understandable that in public places like bars, parks, and movie theaters there would be no smoking signs. I’ve seen them in enough odd places like classrooms and office kitchens to wonder whether or not a smoker’s first thought when entering a new space is,”is it cool to light one up in here?” I don’t have the best perspective on this since I am not a smoker, but I would imagine that even though they might be craving one, smoker’s alike have other things to worry about that wanting to light up a cigarette in a loading dock elevator wouldn’t be the first thing on their mind.

Them again I don’t smoke so I could be completely wrong. To me it seems silly that someone would feel overly disappointed that the can’t have a cigarette in a small, confined area. Theze signs give off the impression that smokers are eagerly lurking for places to smoke and as soon as they see one of those big red signs, they shrug their shoulders and say “awww shucks!”

Next time your in an elevator, see if you can smoke in there and challenge yourself to finish a cigarette before you get off the elevator.